Phil Clark
Head of Engineering · VP Engineering · Senior Technology Executive
25+ years helping organizations scale, modernize, and rethink how technology work is structured, led, and connected to measurable business outcomes. From early-stage builds through PE-backed growth, M&A integration, and post-acquisition leadership, across startups, growth-stage SaaS, and global enterprises. Helping organizations build engineering teams that deliver with speed, clarity, and accountability, and leadership systems that make it last.
What the work produced
Career chapters
VP Engineering · Progressive leadership from Director to Vice President
Led and scaled the engineering organization over 12 years, growing from 20 to more than 100 engineers across 10+ countries and 5 continents. Built and led the delivery organization spanning software engineering, quality engineering, DevOps, and release management. Designed the operating model, leadership development approach, and engineering culture that supported growth from early product-market fit into a $100M+ credentialing business.
Played a leadership role through 9 acquisitions, 3 funding rounds, a $200M recapitalization, and the $835M acquisition by Instructure. Contributed to technical diligence during acquisitions and led the integration of engineering practices, team structures, and governance across the combined organization. Partnered closely with production engineering as infrastructure platforms were integrated, while sustaining delivery velocity and retaining more than 90% of high-performing talent.
Scale
20 to 100+ engineers, 10+ countries, 5 continents, 90%+ retention of high-performing talent
Delivery
80% lead time reduction, 3,000+ production changes/year, 99.99% uptime
Capital events
9 acquisitions, 3 funding rounds, $200M recap, $835M acquisition
Governance
Partnered with Information Security and Product to align engineering practices with SOC 1/2, ISO 27001, PCI, and FERPA requirements
The full arc
The Parchment story is the longest chapter, but it’s not the only one. I often describe my journey in stages. Evergreen was my bachelor’s degree, building online catalog and ecommerce solutions before the major platforms existed, learning to ship software in a market you’re still inventing. DHL was my master’s, nearly a decade of architecture and engineering leadership across global logistics, where I learned process, governance, and what it takes to operate distributed systems and distributed teams at true scale.
Parchment was my PhD, a twelve-year crash course in high-growth leadership that forced me to question everything I thought I knew.
That arc matters. I’ve built inside startups, early-stage software companies ahead of the market, PE-backed growth environments, and global enterprises where aligning across business units is the real engineering challenge. Each one taught me something different about what “good” looks like and why copying someone else’s operating model rarely works. It’s what allows me to meet an organization where it actually is, not where a framework says it should be.
Operating approach
I’ve learned that the gap between strategy and results is almost always an operating model problem, not a talent problem and not a technology problem. My work focuses on closing that gap: building the structures, practices, and leadership clarity that let good people do their best work and let organizations see what’s actually happening.
Delivery as an operating system
Portfolio prioritization, Agile/Lean execution, flow metrics, CI/CD, DevOps automation, and release governance. Not as buzzwords, but as the connective tissue between strategy and shipping.
Scaling without breaking culture
90%+ retention of high-performing talent isn’t an accident. It comes from high-trust, high-accountability environments where people have clear ownership, room to grow, and leaders who develop leaders.
AI as operating leverage
Not AI as a press release. AI as a governed, integrated capability that improves delivery speed and quality through real guardrails, review workflows, and responsible enterprise adoption practices.
Outcomes over outputs
Flow metrics, value stream visibility, and aging-of-work analysis to understand where work stalls, replacing blame-based reporting with clarity that actually improves planning and execution.
Technology investment aligned to strategy
Partnering with senior leadership to connect product, platform, and delivery investments to strategic goals, balancing growth, operating efficiency, risk, and execution capacity.
M&A and capital event readiness
Technical diligence, talent assessment, integration planning, and executive-ready communication under investor and board pressure. Tested across 9 acquisitions and 3 funding rounds.
What the people around me say
In 2024, 33 colleagues — peers, direct reports, cross-functional partners, and the CEO — participated in a Zenger Folkman Extraordinary Leader 360° assessment. 100% responded. The result placed me in the top 10% of global leaders across all industries and leadership levels. Top 10%
Across all 19 leadership competencies
strength
strength
average
Zenger Folkman Extraordinary Leader · 360° assessment, November 2024 · Normed against thousands of global leaders across all industries and leadership levels
Shaping the conversation
Publishing and speaking
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Profitable Engineering
Published June 2026 -
Speaker
Flowtopia, Planview Accelerate, Project to Product Executive Summit -
Contributor
IT Revolution and Planview publications -
Performance Coach
flowtopia.io
Boards and advisory
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Board Member
Value Stream Management Consortium, 2024–2025 -
Advisory Board Member
Customer Experience Program, UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business, 2021–2023 -
Advisor
GenAI copilot strategy for value stream management platforms
Mentorship and sponsorship
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Instructure Women’s Leadership Program
Mentor and sponsor -
ASU Engineering Capstone Projects
Industry mentor
What colleagues and leaders say →
Building or transforming a technology organization?
In mid-2026 I’m looking to join a team as a CTO or VP Engineering. If you’re leading a search at that level, I’d welcome the conversation.
Start a conversationLinkedIn · Phoenix metro · Remote-first (US) or hybrid